Opossum

An omnivore that apparently can live anywhere a raccoon can. Once rare in Northeastern Colorado, they are now quite common, as roadkill will confirm. The young one below ran up a tree. Notice its fifth toe on the hind leg, like our thumb, grasping the bottom of the branch. (If you are searching and typed in “Possum” or “O’possum, all pictures will be under “Opossum.” Our animal is the Virginia Opossum, the only opossum in the states. “Possum,” which is slang for this animal, is also an animal in Australia, also a marsupial.)

Don’t worry. Deer do not browse on Opossum.

They grow fast and live only two or three years. This lady was a near nightly visitor, so long as I spooned peanut butter on the log.

Everyone likes Peanut Butter.

Not the prettiest picture, but it does show the marsupial pouch.

Yep, totally dead. Wouldn’t budge even when I poured water over him.

Wait a second. I guess he is alive. It went off to become the great-great sire of the opossums now in the neighborhood.

This Trail Camera shot in my backyard shows a very “pregnant” female. Notice that belly. The babies were born long ago and are now living in the pouch. When they get too big they will crawl out and ride on the mother’s back. I had hoped to get pictures of the babies on her back but I found her as roadkill about a mile and a quarter from my house. Some of the dead babies, exploded from her pouch, were also on the road. I could show you the pictures but have chosen not to. Never fast, Opossums are certainly not fast when lugging around up to thirteen joeys. That’s what the babies are called, just as their relatives, the Kangaroo joeys.